November 30, 2007

A local MP wants a House of Commons debate to secure the future of artefacts discovered in Loftus in North-East England. Once again, it is interesting to see how locating artefacts within their original context is important for many reasons, but is something that is regularly glossed over by the British Museum as being irrelevant.

Battle to keep artefacts in region may head to Commons
By Graeme Hetherington

THE battle to keep ancient Anglo Saxon artefacts in the region could be heading to the House of Commons.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP Ashok Kumar, is seeking a special House of Commons debate to secure the future of the rare collection of treasures unearthed in Loftus.Read the rest of this entry »

November 29, 2007

Andrew George MP (Liberal Democrat) has tabled a new Early Day Motion on the Elgin Marbles & the opening of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens next year. An amended EDM arguing against the general spirit of the first has been tables by Peter Luff MP (Conservative).
Andrew George recently became chair of the Marbles Reunited campaign.

That this House welcomes the development of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens which is planned to open next year and which clearly demonstrates the capacity of the Greek authorities to receive and satisfactorily install those marbles from the Parthenon which were, in the past, removed in previous periods, including the so-called Elgin Marbles; notes that the principles of the restitution of museum items is now well established, which include the British Museum’s return of Aboriginal remains to Australia under the Human Tissue Act 2004 and a number of fragments from the Parthenon and the Acropolis to Greece from collections in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere; believes that the opening of the New Acropolis Museum will give the British Museum a golden opportunity to demonstrate its goodwill towards the project; and calls on the Government to work with the British Museum to open a dialogue with the Greek authorities to arrange for the proper restitution of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens. Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas books: Art
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 29/11/2007Martin Gayford views the best art books and finds both prehistoric carvings and paintings so new they are scarcely dry

[…]

The Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum by Ian Jenkins

The British Museum does not, of course, own all the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon, but only those given by Lord Elgin. Nearly half still remain in Athens. Many others have been destroyed by explosion, iconoclasm and other misfortunes. What this book illustrates, therefore, is a fragment of a fragment.Read the rest of this entry »

November 28, 2007

Richard Lacayo is graduallyinterviewing various key players in international restitution issues. This time its the turn of Philippe de Montebello, director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, who famously returned the Euphronios krater to Italy.

Over the past few months I’ve been having a series of conversations with museum directors about the controversies over “cultural property” and the demands by nations like Greece, Italy and Egypt that museums in the U.S. and elsewhere return treasured antiquities. I sat down recently with Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. As you already know, in response to demands from the Italian Minister of Culture Francesco Rutelli, the Met agreed last year to return 20 artifacts to Italy, including the prized Euphronios krater.

After colonial rule and two world wars, there are arguments galore in Europe over where historic artefacts should reside

The Elgin Marbles, below, are at the centre of the biggest controversy over repatriation. The sculptures originally decorated ancient buildings in Athens but were moved to Britain 200 years ago by Lord Elgin. Now at the British Museum, London, they are the subject of a long-running campaign to return them to Greece.Read the rest of this entry »

A new gallery is built in Athens to display the fabled Elgin marbles, but will the British Museum agree to send them home?

After decades of campaigning to bring home the Elgin Marbles – the Greek authorities have gambled on their return and built a new museum at the foot of the Acropolis, with a custom made gallery to display them.Read the rest of this entry »

Three organizations that represent coin collectors and dealers have joined to sue the U.S. State Department in federal court in Washington. Collectors were very put out this summer when State approved a request by Cyprus to ban the import of ancient coins from that island. Italy has made a similar request. Now the collectors want to compel the department to provide documents that would shed light on its decision making.Read the rest of this entry »

An article about the Addolorata Cemetery by journalist Julia Farrugia has been awarded the Silver Medal in this year’s Cultural Heritage Journalist Awards.

Ms Farrugia of Illum newspaper secured the prize with the story titled L-Akbar Belt f’Malta – described as a “charming and evocative study of the historic Addolorata Cemetery written in excellent Maltese” by Din l-Art Helwa, organisers of the event.Read the rest of this entry »

November 19, 2007

Michalis Liapis, the Greek Minister of Culture has stated that his country supports the creation of a common European cultural agenda. A common agenda of this type would help to promote & facilitate co-operation between museums in member states.

Greek Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis on Friday said that Athens was in favour of creating a common European agenda for culture during his participation in a meeting of EU culture ministers held in Brussels.

In an announcement issued after the meeting, Liapis stressed that culture should be among the priorities of the European Union and be the object of a coordinated and joint policy by the 27 EU member-states.Read the rest of this entry »

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis met on Thursday with Culture Minister Michalis Liapis, who briefed him on progress in the ongoing transfer of antiquities to the new Acropolis Museum from the old museum atop the Acropolis — a distance of roughly 400 metres — as well as on a ministry draft bill aimed at combatting antiquities smuggling.

Blaze of splendour and museum spat over Tutankhamun at the 02
Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
Wednesday November 14, 2007

One of the most talked about exhibitions of the year, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, opens tomorrow in a blaze of gloriously preserved artefacts. But tensions between the Egyptian lenders to the exhibition and the British Museum threaten to overshadow the show, which sees astonishing objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun displayed in Britain for the first time since 1.7 million people queued at the British Museum 35 years ago.Read the rest of this entry »